Coded Blood
by bleak reality
Summary: Jesse goes hunting, but her chosen prey turns out to be more than she bargained for. (Queen of the Damned/Matrix Xover)


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Coded Blood

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A Queen of the Damned/Matrix crossover, based on the QOTD movie as well as Anne Rice's (brilliant) series. I wanted to use an established Matrix character but no-one fit, so Nanu is making another appearance. There's some girl/girl in here, fairly suggestive. You've been warned.

***

Night-time. When Jesse opened her eyes, she found Lestat watching her. He always woke earlier than she did.

Fangs glinted as he smiled.

"Thirsty?"

She nodded. The blood in her veins felt thin - she needed to drink. Climbing out of the velvet lined coffin, she glanced around the dark basement. They were alone.

"You have to catch your own tonight Jesse," Lestat's voice sounded rich and full - he had fed already.

"Any suggestions of where to look?" her accent clashed with his lilting French tones.

"The City is full of mortals. Take your pick."

***

From the roof of an old hotel, Jesse looked out over the City. Lights shimmered, wind played through her hair, and heartbeats thrummed in rhythm. A million voices spoke at once, in some strange harmony that was almost a song.

The thirst was distracting, a feeling like an ache that spread throughout all of her. She listened.

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Below.

Jesse slunk to the edge of the roof and looked down. A small figure made its way down the alley, darting glances over its shoulder.

A mortal.

***

The girl started as Jesse landed in front of her, folds of black leather coat settling like wings. There was no other life here but the two of them, the teenage girl with the long dark hair and the vampire.

The girl took a step back. Jesse took two forwards, her eyes drawn to the way the dim light caught on the top button of the girl's black shirt. The girl turned to run, but then Jesse was before her, pushing her against the wall and pinning her there. The girl struggled; she was very strong for her size. Jesse scanned over her mind, reading a tumult of thoughts of _hurry, ship, exit, have to get to the exit, it's dark and scary and _- a name.

"Don't worry Nanu. It won't hurt."

Nanu froze; "How do you know my name?"

Jesse smiled down at her, fang teeth exposed by a curl of her lip. Nanu stared -

"You're a vampire!"

"Yes." The word rolled out of her mouth. Jesse wondered if she had inherited from Lestat the pleasure of being known, if only for a short while. It wasn't like the girl could ever tell anyone else.

Nanu quietened, ever so slightly. "I don't think you'll kill me . . . Jesse."

Intrigued, the vampire pressed the girl between the hotel wall and her body.

"Why not?"

Small tremors ran through Nanu, her heat beat was rapid.

"You just won't."

Jesse bent her head lower, inhaling the warm scent. Nanu shivered, sending ripples spreading throughout. Her tongue wet dry lips.

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

Jesse pulled back, and held Nanu's eyes as she reached up and fingered the collar of her shirt.

"What if you're wrong?"

A swallow, "I'm not."

"How do you know? Wait - " she smiled. "You just do."

Nanu didn't move, staying quiet against the wall. Jesse knew the spell was working. Wide brown eyes with a yellow glow stare up into her face. The girl's skin was pale. It seemed Jesse could see her veins, see the blood flowing through her body. They were so close Jesse could feel Nanu's heart as if it was echoing in her own ribs.

Two pale hands hovered at Nanu's throat, then very, very slowly undid the top button of the black cotton shirt. Nanu made no move to escape, entranced and held by the enchantment of Jesse. Her hands continued, pulling the shirt aside to expose skin.

Nanu raised her arms, her fingers tracing the arch of Jesse's spine, up and up to the back of her neck. The vampire's smile grew and she moved closer, settling curves into curves, feeling the muscle of Nanu's thigh between her own.

The girl pulled Jesse's head down. Their mouths brushed in gentle contact, then harder. Jesse was slow, savouring the time before the inevitable.

Nanu made a soft sound between a sigh and a moan.

"Jesse."

She bit. Her fangs sank through the skin of Nanu's throat and the blood flowed. The first taste was warm and rich and crimson, but then the ecstasy was stained with _green. Jesse saw through her closed eyes, lines of nonsensical code letters numbers characters and symbols she could not understand raining for infinity. She saw, for an instant, the City the world the universe, and herself, as nothing more than impulses and raw information of sensation . . ._

Then she pulled back, reeling. Nanu wrapped arms around her and held her up and still close against her. She whispered, understanding somehow, knowing what she had seen.

"Don't drink any more. You don't want to see any more."

"What was that?"

Nanu smiled sadly, sweetly. "The Truth."

Jesse bowed her head, auburn hair falling forward over her eyes. Nanu reached up for a last kiss.

"I'm sorry," she breathed into the vampire's mouth, the taste mingling with the taste of her blood.

A very long way away, a pay phone began to ring. Still shaken, Jesse moved back away from the girl. Nanu began doing up her shirt.

"I have to go."

"What?"

A final moment of hesitation when their eyes met and held. Then -

"Bye Jesse."

And the vampire folded to her knees, alone in the alley.

***

She was still there when Lestat came for her at dawn.


End file.
